David Hume: Determining The Reality Of An External World

David Hume was very skeptical in determining the reality of an external world. He says that our ideas are not really precise as it is only a derivative. They are derivatives of our “impressions” which Hume defines as our direct sensation of the external world. So if I look at the sky, I see the clouds’ having different shapes and sizes. When I try to recall the image, I won’t be able to remember the exact shape and size of the clouds I saw. Hume mentioned ideas from emotions. I relate that to our everyday lives. When we see an actual tragedy, I would feel afraid, sad, or sympathy towards those who are affected. If I ever told the story of the tragic event I experienced to another person, he or she would probably say that he or she too feels afraid, sad, or sympathetic towards those who are affected but it is not true that he or she actually feels what I felt.

The derivative being the story of the event I told him or her. I will give another example of this skeptic notion. Different people would have different degrees of their emotions upon reacting on a certain stimulus. If I would find out that my girlfriend has many other affairs at the same time when we were together, I would feel really tormented but I could probably still recover from the situation. Where as if another one of her boyfriends would also know that he has been cheated on, he would probably feel tormented as well but he could probably never recover from the event and commit suicide probably because he is buried in a deeper mental anguish that I got from the